


Someone else's home

by sillita



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 08:09:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2102067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sillita/pseuds/sillita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clara decides to move in the Tardis, so together with the Doctor they try to find her a room. However Tardis' glitch leads them to a place that the Doctor seemed to have forgotten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Someone else's home

'Doctor?' Clara hangs over the Tardis console room balustrade, her face all serious.

'Clara!' The Doctor glances over from the console, distraction in his eyes, concentrating more on holding the dangling button, probably vital for keeping the Tardis in the air.

'Can we talk?' She looks really desperate to catch Doctor's attention. She walks by the balustrade and leans onto the console.

'No, don't do that!' He exclaims, holding out his hand to stop her, but it's too late, her hand touches a tiny switch and moves it a little bit to the left. The Tardis makes an annoyed sound and goes silent.

'Well, okay, that would be it, we landed,' there are notes of annoyance in the Doctor's voice and Clara is not entirely sure whether he is annoyed with her or with the ship.

'Landed where?'

'It doesn't matter, let's hope it's somewhere safe,' losing the distraction of trying to navigate Tardis where _he_ wanted it, he concentrates on Clara and finally notices the _it's really something important_ look on her face. 'You wanted to talk, we're talking, you can start...,' he turns, making a full pirouette and lands on an armchair behind him,'... _now'._

'Well, I was thinking,' Clara starts slowly and a little bit awkwardly, not really used to having the Doctor's full attention. She moves along the console and stops opposite to him, 'about travelling. With you'

'Do you want to go home?' The Doctor asks quietly, not looking at her.

'What? No!' She protests. 'I mean, do you want me to go?' She looks at him with squinted eyes, suspiciously.

'What? No!' He raises his head and places his back against the armchair, crossing his arms. 'Why would I?'

Clara shrugs. 'Maybe I am not that good at that adventuring part after all?' She asks, rising her eyebrow.

'Come on, I told you, it's not a test...' he tilts his head. 'And that Goshinian situation, you know, losing their sacred scroll and all, it was not your fault, I should have told you... Oh, whatever. I don't want you to go, Clara.'

'Good,' she nods and clears her throat nervously. 'Because I'd like to move in.'

'In?' The Doctor sounds a tad surprised. 'You mean in here? In the Tardis?'

'You offered it earlier, didn't you?' Clara shrugs, a little offended by his shock.

'And you said no!'

'And now I'm saying yes! Artie is going to boarding school, Angie is sixteen and can take care of herself and they... They want me out!' As she tries to explain herself to the Doctor, the frustration gets pretty hearable in her voice. She pulls out a little chair from under the console (she never fully understood how come it keeps itself there while Clara gets tossed around by the Doctor's incompetent driving) and sits on it. 'They want me to get a life... or something,' she does not sound half as happy as she should be about it and she realizes it. 'I thought I would be glad about it, I really did,' she explains, 'but... well, I'm not!' She shakes her head and that's the moment when she finally notices a happy sparkle in the Doctor's eyes that appeared there a good while ago.

'Well then, let's get you a room, shall we?' He grins. Clara gets up as quickly as possible, but still is not quick enough and has to run a few steps to catch up with him.

'So I'm staying?' She asks. The Doctor stops immediately turning to her and she almost bumps into him.

'What, are you backing off now?' He seems slightly insulted. 'Humans, you never can get your mind set, can you?' He shakes his head, looking at her with disbelief.

'No! No, no, I'm not! I'm just surprised you just get to this... Like this,' she snaps her fingers. 'I thought there would be trouble, like getting me a place to sleep or something...'

'Clara. Have you _seen_ the Tardis?'

'Yeah?' She says, prolonging the word, unsure of where this is going.

'It's huge! Unlimited set of rooms! Hurray!' He sounds like an eleven-year old again, and heads down the corridor, starting with a hop.

'Cool,' amused, Clara utters under her breath, trying to keep up with his pace. He doesn't even have a chance to hear it, walking good few steps in front of her, stroking and patting the walls as he goes and muttering.

'Good old Tardis, let's get Clara a room, shall we? How about... here?' He turns suddenly, pointing to a door. 'What have you got here, girl?' he says, and Clara is absolutely sure he's not addressing her. She looks over his shoulder when he turns the handle.

 'Oh,' that is the only sound that the Doctor makes while they look through the open door. Clara goes around him smoothly and enters the room.

'It looks like it's already taken, isn't it?' She says, looking around, at the unmade bed and clothes thrown all over the place. The room is really messy and Clara has to stop herself from starting to fold the T-shirts lying on the floor. By the wall she even sees a period dress, from the XIX century, or something like that. She touches a jeans jacket thrown over a chair, 'Oh, look, a teddy bear!' She smiles at the cute light-brown toy on the chair. 'Whose room is this?' she asks curiously, tilting her head. The Doctor stands silently by the door, his eyes wide open.

'It's taken, let's go,' he finally speaks after a long moment, his voice hoarse, like someone's who hasn't spoken for years. Clara obeys, but doesn't plan to throw the towel.

'No one lives here, right?' She asks another question, before stopping right in front the Doctor, pointing a finger into his chest. 'Do you have someone else living here?' She insists on an answer, being pretty sure it can't be true, but also very slightly worried, especially by the Doctor's appearance, who got very quiet and not eleven-year-old-ish at all.

'No,' he shakes his head, eyes gazing at the floor, 'but I used to have,' he finally glances at her, looking a bit teary. 'Come on, let's find _your_ room.'

Clara is a bit startled, but follows him down the corridor. The Doctor looks as if he lost all the enthusiasm and she wants to say something, but she isn't really sure what. She doesn't even know what the whole deal about that room was. Basically, whatever she says, it probably would be invading his privacy at least in a way. 

'You know what?' She decides to speak after some more steps. 'Forget it. For now!' She raises her finger, when she sees the Doctor's eyes widening, even sadder than before, 'I need to pick up my stuff from the house anyway. And you can find me a room while I'm packing. How about that, huh?' She smiles, hoping to see the Doctor's mood lighten at least a little bit.

'Yes. Obviously,' the Doctor smiles, but that's not the 'kid lost in a candy shop' smile he usually gives her. 'So, we're heading to Earth?' he makes an unclear gesture towards the console room.

'Yeah, ideally,' Clara says with a trace of laugh in her voice, 'at least that's where my house is.'

'Let's move then!' the Doctor sounds more like her Doctor again. He walks towards the console immediately, but stops after a few steps and looks over his shoulder with the same old smile he gave her a few seconds ago. 'Her name was Rose,' he says quietly, nodding his head in the room's direction. Clara doesn't know who Rose is, but she doesn't feel like it would be appropriate to ask him now. And after five minutes he looks as if he has forgotten again.


End file.
